If the first half of the season belonged to Tai Tzu Ying, then the second half of the year was surely owned by Akane Yamaguchi. The 20-year-old was always in the thick of things even in the first half, but never quite managed to make a last push in the biggest tournaments.
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She took it to altogether another level post the World Championships, when she went on a rampage. In seven tournaments, she reached the final in four, converting two. The biggest title of her career came in the final event of the season when she edged PV Sindhu in three gruelling games to clinch the World Superseries Finals title.
Yamaguchi’s consistency was rewarded with a rise to a career-high World No. 2 ranking at the end of the year.
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About the author
Sudeshna Banerjee
Sudeshna is a veteran Indian Sports and International Tennis journalist as well as editor at Sportskeeda. She has an overall experience of over 10 years with top publications like The Bridge, Fox Sports Asia, and gained a keen interest in Indian sports since the 2002 Commonwealth and Asian Games when she was in school.
Sudeshna holds a Master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. She attends tournaments regularly and being a highly experienced journalist, she ensures she only contacts the correct people from her network for the most authentic information to be put in her articles.
Sudeshna’s favorite Indian athlete is PV Sindhu owing to her big-tournament performances. She also admires Tennis legend Rafael Nadal for his resilience and has witnessed the Spaniard in action at the French Open, due to which, Roland Garros is her all-time favorite Grand Slam tournament.
Neeraj Chopra’s gold medal win at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics made a lasting impact on Sudeshna. She has also interviewed him along with Badminton star Chirag Shetty and several other sports personalities. She has done on-ground reporting on multiple ITF tournaments along with the Premier Badminton League, Asian Boxing Championships and the Davis Cup.
When not using her skills and years of experience in crafting compelling content, Sudeshna likes to read, watch movies and travel.
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